Fabric control device



Dec. 19, 1961 c. w. MINTON 3,013,414

FABRIC CONTROL DEVICE Filed Sept. 11, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 I 126 125 60 E i 127: V17 5 40 INVENTOR: CLARENCE W. MMTON BY $26M.

ATTORNEYS Dec. 19, 1961 c. w. MINTON 3,013,414

FABRIC CONTROL DEVICE Filed Sept. 11, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 CLARENCE W. Mum-ow BY m,m.um+w

ATTORNEYS Dec. 19, 1961 w. MINTON 3,013,414

FABRIC CONTROL DEVICE Filed Sept. 11, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 CLARENCE W. MmToN 5 BY QWJw-JAM-LW ATTORNEY$ Dec. 19, 1961 Filed Sept. 11, 1958 c. w. MINTON 3,013,414

FABRIC CONTROL DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR: CLARENCE W. Murrow BY idzmfQwAAm+W ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofliice 3,013,414 Patented Dec. ,19, 1 961 3,013,414 FABRIC CGNTROL DEVICE Clarence Webb Minton, Nashville, Tenn, assignor, by direct and mesne assignments, to Morpul, Inc, Greenshoro, N.C., a corporation of North Carolina Filed Sept. 11, 1958, Ser. No. 760,415 6 Claims. (Cl. 66-9) The present invention relates to an improved fabric control device for controlling the length of the stitch loops drawn by the needles of a circular knitting machine.

Present circular knitting machines are provided with a circularly arranged series of cylinder needles which are positioned for vertical sliding movement in slots in a needle cylinder and radially movable sinkers positioned between the cylinder needles. During knitting, the needle cylinder is revolved, the needles raised to receive yarn in their hooks and then the needles are successively lowered to stitch drawing level by stitch cams, the length of the stitch loops drawn depending upon the distance from the hook of the needles to the point the yarn engages the sinkers. The conventional methods of varying the length of stitches drawn by the needles of this type knitting machine are (1) to raise or lower the stitch cams to correspondingly vary the distance the needles are lowered while maintaining the sinkers at a constant level and (2) raise or lower the needle cylinder to thus correspondingly raise or lower the sinkers while continuing to lower the needles the same amount by the stitch cam. The amount of stitch variation which may be obtained by either of these conventional methods is very limited. While either of these methods are adequate for effecting small variations in stitch length throughout a circularly knitted fabric to give some shape to a knitted article, such as hosiery, they are not sufficient to provide great variations in stitch length.

Heretofore, in order to knit very long orloose stitches in the tops of hosiery, the sinkers are moved inwardly between the needles so that the yarn from the feeding finger is laid on top of the nib of the sinkers instead of across the throat of the sinkers, in the conventional manner and the needles then draw unusually long stitches. When the sinkers are moved inwardly so that the yarn is laid on top of the nibs, the normal functions of the sinkers, holding the knit fabric down on the shanks of the needles as the needles raise after forming the stitches and shedding the previous stitch loop off of the needle, are not carried out. When forming a loose stitch top for hosiery, elastic yarn is laid in each course to constrict the fabric and make it fit the leg snugly. The elastic yarn also causes the needles to shed their stitches and if this elastic yarn should break, the stitches would not properly shed and pile up on the needles, causing a jam-up and broken needles if the broken elastic yarn is not immediately detected. Another disadvantage of this method of forming long or loose stitches is that when it is desired to change the length of the long stitches being drawn, the sinkers must be removed irom the machine and other sinkers having higher or lower nibs inserted in their place and this is a costly and time consuming operation.

With the foregoing in mind, it is the primary object of this invention to provide a fabric control device for controlling the length of stitches drawn, the device being operable to control the stitch length throughout a wide range of variation while allowing the sinkers to carry out their normal functions. The fabric control device utilizes cam means for engaging and raising the inner ends of successive sinkers adjacent the point the yarn is fed to the same and pattern control means for varying the height of the cam means.

It is another object of this invention to provide a fabric control device comprising pattern controlled cam means for varying the vertical height of the sinkers at the time the yarn is fed to the needles and during the time the stitches are drawn while controlling radial movement of the sinkers so that the yarn is fed to the usual throat position and the sinkers will perform their usual functions of holding down the fabric when the needles are raised after drawing stitches and shedding the previous stitches from the needles.

It is another object of this invention to provide pattern controlled cam means for engaging and raising the inner ends of sinkers which is of simple, inexpenisve construction and which may be easily applied to existing circular knitting machines without extensive modification.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds when taken in conenction with the accompanying drawings, in Which- FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a circular knitting machine and showing the present invention associated therewith;

FIGURE 2 is an isometric view of the sinker engaging cams and illustrating the manner in which they are supported for vertical movement inside of the needle cylinder;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation of a sinker illustrating the type sinker used in the preferred form of invention;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation of another type sinker which is used in a modified form of the invention;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged vertical sectional view through the needle cylinder and associated parts, taken substantially along the line 5-5 in FIGURE 1 and showing the sinker engaging cams in operative position;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged horizontal plan view of the sinker cap with parts in section and being taken substantially along the line 6-6 in FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a vertical sectional View through the upper portion of the needle cylinder at substantially the position indicated by the line 7-7 in FIGURE 6 and showing the relative position of the sinker and the cylinder needle when the yarn is fed to the needle and sinker;

FIGURE 8 is a view similar to FIGURE 7 but showing the relationship of the sinker and needle at substantially the position indicated by the line 8-8 in FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 9 is a view similar to FIGURE 8 except showing the sinker raising cam is lowered or inoperative position and cylinder needle drawing a normal length stitch loop;

FIGURE 10 is a schematic development of the needle and sinker cams which control movement of the needles and the sinkers;

FIGURES 11, 12 and 13 are views similar to FIGURES 7, 8 and 9 except showing operation of the modified form of sinker shown in FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 14 is a side elevation of still another type sinker which may be used with the present invention;

FIGURE 15 is a View similar to FIGURES 8 and 12 except showing the operation of modified sinker shown in FIGURE 14; and

FIGURE -16 is an isometric view of the sinker withdrawing cam, looking upwardly at the lower surface thereof.

In the drawings, the fabric control device for controlling the length of stitch loops drawn by the needles is shown associated with a circular independent needle knitting machine of substantially the type shown in the patent to I. D. Hemphill, No. 933,443, dated September 7, 1909. The present invention is not, however, limited to use with this particular type of circular knitting machine but may be employed with slight modification on other types of circular knitting machines.

The knitting machine of the type above referred to has a frame 10 supported on suitable legs 11 (FIGURE 1). The frame 18 rotatably supports an intermittently movable or rotatable cam shaft 12 and movement of the shaft is under control of the conventional pattern chain, not shown. The frame 10 supports the usual bed plate 15 in which a needle cylinder driving bevel gear 16 (FIG- URE is mounted for rotation. The gear 16 is at times continuously rotated and at other times reciprocated by a mating bevel gear 17 and which is driven through the conventional driving mechanism of the knitting machine, not shown. The bevel gear 16 fixedly supports the lower end of a needle cylinder 20 which is grooved to receive cylinder needles N. The needles N are of the conventional latch type and have operating butts extending outwardly beyond the outer periphery of the needle cylinder 20.

Referring to FIGURE 10, there is shown some of the conventional needle operating cams surrounding the needle cylinder 20 and the needle cams are mounted on a vertically movable cam plate 22 which also surrounds the needle cylinder 20. The cam plate 22 is supported on the upper end of a post 23 (FIGURE 5) which penetrates the bed plate 15 and is raised and lowered by a conventional stitch length controlling mechanism clearly shown and described in said Patent No. 933,443. A needle cam ring 25 (FIGURE is suitably secured to the cam plate 22 and surrounds the needle cylinder 20 to guide the lowermost surface of the butts of the needles N. A stitch drawing or knitting station is provided and includes right and left stitch earns 26 and 27, respectively, a top center cam 28 and a bottom center cam 30. As the needles pass from right to left through the knitting station, they are raised by the cam 26 to take yarn, indicated at Y in FIGURE 10, from a yarn feeding finger 32 movable into and out of yarn feeding position in the usual throat of a latch ring 33 (FIGURES 1 and 5) p0 sitioned in spaced relationship above the top of the needle cylinder 20. The needles are then lowered by cams 28 and 27 to draw stitches and raised by the inclined surface 34 of the cam ring 25.

The usual rubber yarn feed cams, including needle lowering cams 35 and 36 and a jack raising cam, not shown, cooperate with the needles N and jacks I positioned beneath alternate needles so that these needles are raised to receive a rubber or elastic yarn E from a rubber yarn feeding finger 40 positioned to move into and out of yarn feeding position in a conventional manner. The latch ring 33 (FIGURE 1) is pivotally supported as at 42 on the upper end of a support post 43, the lower end of which is fixed on the bed plate 15.

The upper end of the needle cylinder 20 supports a sinker bed 50 which is slotted for reception of sinkers broadly indicated at S. A sinker is positioned between each needle in the cylinder 20. The sinkers have radial sliding movement in slots of the sinker bed and slots in the upper end of the cylinder 20 and their radial position relative to the needle cylinder is controlled by cams in a sinker cap 51. The sinker bed 50 is fixed to the upper end of the needle cylinder 20 in the usual manner and will rotate and reciprocate with the needle cylinder while the sinker cap 51 is held in a substantially fixed or non-rotating position during knitting.

The sinker cap 51 is held against rotation by adjustable stop members 52 and 53 (FIGURE 6). In this instance, the stop members 52 and 53 are screws which penetrate brackets 54 and 55, respectively, suitably secured to the upper surface of the sinker cap 51. The inner ends of the screws 52 and 53 are adapted to engage opposite sides of a stop bracket 56 depending from the latch ring 33. Thus, when conventional rotary motion is imparted to the needle cylinder 20 in a counter-clockwise direction in FIGURE 6, the sinker cap 51 will rotate until the screw 52 abuts against the stop bracket 56 and the sinker cap 51 will remain in this position as long as rotary motion is imparted to the needle cylinder 20.

When the knitting machine shifts into reciprocatory knitting, as when heel and toe pockets are formed, the sinker cap 51 will also be reciprocated or shifted a limited amount, depending upon the adjustment of the screws 52 and 53 so that when the needle cylinder 20 moves in a clockwise direction (FIGURE 6) the screw 53 will engage the stop 56 and prevent further oscillation of the sinker cap 51. As the needle cylinder 20 moves in a counter-clockwise direction, the screw 52 will engage the stop 56 and limit the counter-clockwise movement of the sinker cap 51.

The sinkers of the present invention are of a special construction and will be described in detail later but it may be stated here that each sinker S has an operating tail or butt 60 at its outer end and extending upwardly therefrom and the butt 60 is utilized to control the radial position of the sinkers as they are rotated within the sinker cap 51. The sinker cap 51 is provided with a groove 62 (FIGURE 6) in which the sinker butts 60 are guided during normal operation of the sinkers. At the knitting station, the sinker cap 51 is provided with end cams 64 and 65 (FIGURE 6) and a sinker draw-back or withdrawing cam 66. The sinker cap 51 also has sinker end cams and 71 positioned at the rubber or elastic yarn feeding station and a sinker draw-back or withdrawing cam 72.

The parts heretofore described are conventional parts of a circular knitting machine and they all cooperate in a conventional manner to knit a tubular fabric with an elastic yarn laid in each course of stitches when the clastic yarn feeding finger 49 is in lowered or feeding position. In the machine thus far described, the only way to increase or decrease the length of stitch loops drawn is by vertical movement of the cam plate 22 to thus vary the distance below the sinkers that the needles N are drawn when they pass beneath either of the stitch cams 26 or 27 (FIGURE 10). As has been heretofore stated, the amount of stitch variation by movement of the cam plate 22 is very limited.

The fabric control device of the present invention includes a first tubular non-rotating sleeve 75 (FIGURES 2 and S) which is fixed adjacent its lower end to a stationary part of the knitting machine. In this instance, the lower end of the sleeve 75 has an annular hub to which the inner ends of support arms 76, 77 and 78 are fixed and the outer ends thereof are secured for radial adjustment to the bed plate 15 by screws 81 (FIGURE 5). The screws 81 penerate elongated slots 82 in the outer ends of the support arms 76, 77 and 78 to provide rotatable adjustment of the sleeve 75. The sleeve 75 extends upwardly inside of the needle cylinder 20 and the needle cylinder 20 rotates thereabout. A second or inner vertically movable non-rotating sleeve 85 is slidably mounted for vertical movement in the sleeve 75 and its upper end is provided with an outwardly integral annular flange or hub 86.

The upper end of the sleeve 85 has a first or knitting station sinker raising cam fixed thereto. The cam 96 is fixed to the sleeve 85 by screws 91 and 92 which penetrate elongated slots cut in tail portions of the cam 90 so that the cam 90 may be adjusted circumferentially of the sleeve 85. The upper end of the sleeve 85 also supports a second or elastic feeding station sinker raising cam 95 secured thereto for circumferential adjustment by screws 96 and 97 (FIGURE 2). The inner sleeve 85 is provided with a stop screw 100 (FIGURE 2) which penetrates a vertically extending elongated slot or opening 191 in the sleeve 85 within the sleeve 75 while permitting vertical movement of the sleeve 85 inside of the sleeve 75.

The lower end of the sleeve 85 (FIGURE 5) is provided with a stop block suitably secured thereto for vertical adjustment by screws 106 penetrating elongated slots in the stop member 105 and threadably embedded in the sleeve 85. The upper end of the stop 105 is adapted to at times engage the lower surface of the sleeve 75 and restrict upward movement of the sleeve 85. The lower end of the sleeve 85 is also provided with an operating pin its (FIGURE the inner end of which is threadably secured in the sleeve 85 and the outer end of which is engaged by the inner end of an operating arm 11]. (FIG- URES l and 5). The outer end of the arm 111 is adjustably secured to the side of a thrust rod 112, the upper end of which is guided in a slotted guide plate 113 fixed on the upper surface of the bed plate and the lower end of which is pivotally connected as at 11 4 to the forward end of a control lever 115.

The rear end of the control lever I15 is pivotally supported on a shaft 116 and the forward end thereof at times engages a pattern control drum 12d fixed on the shaft 12 and at other times the lever 115 is raised upwardly by engagement with suitable cams 121 and 122 fixed on the control drum 120. Although the inner sleeve 85 is of sufiicient weight to drop by gravity and move the cams 96 and 95 to inoperative position when the control arm lllll is lowered, if desired, a suitable tension spring may be connected to the pin 110 to assist in lowering the sleeve 85 when the lever 115 moves off of either of the cams 121 or 122.

When fabric having regular length stitch loops is being produced on the knitting machine, the lever 1315 will rest against the periphery of the drum 12% (FIGURE 1) to allow the sleeve 85 to remain in a lowered position so that the cams 9d and 95 are disposed below and out of engagement with the sinkers S as shown in FIGURE 9. Thus, the sinkers S are moved radially in a conventional manner as they rotate inside of the sinker cap 51. The sinkers S are withdrawn as their butts 6t engage the cam 66 so that the yarn Y is fed to the hooks of the needles N as they are raised up by the needle raising cam 26 (FIGURE 10). When the needles are lowered by the center cam 28 and stitch cam 27 to stitch drawing level, the yarn is laid across the usual throat 125 of the sinker and forwardly of the nib 12d thereof. The sinkers S are then moved inwardly by the end cam 65 so that the yarn is held beneath the nibs 126 as the needles N are raised upwardly after passing through the stitch cams. Inward movement of the sinkers S thus causes the previous stitch loops to be shed before the needles N are raised.

In order to produce abnormally long stitches, the shaft 12 is rotated to bring the cam drum 120 (FIGURE 1) into position so that the lever 115 will ride up onto the cam I21 and thus raise the sleeve 85, causing the sinker cams 941 and 95 to engage and raise successive sinkers at the regular yarn feeding or knitting station and at the elastic yarn feeding station. As is apparent in FIGURE 6, the sinkers S are moved outwardly radially as their butts engage the sinker withdrawing cam 66 and the sinkers are in fully withdrawn position when they engage and are raised by the earn 9%. The sinker shown in FIGURE 7 is at the top level of the cam 9t and is in fully withdrawn position.

Ordinarily, the lower surface of the withdrawing cam 66 is positioned closely above the upper surface of the sinker bed 50 and therefore holds the sinkers S downwardly in the bottom of the grooves in the sinker bed 5%? and upper end of the needle cylinder but in this case, the lower surface of the sinker withdrawing cam es (FIGURE 16) has been cut away as at 130 to permit the sinkers to be raised upwardly at their inner ends. Since the lower surfaces of the cam 66 is cut away, the shank of the sinker, indicated at 127, may be raised above the top of the sinker bed 50 to the position shown in FIGURE 7.

As will be noted in FIGURE 10, it is when the inner end of the sinker S is raised to its highest position on top of the cam 90 and in withdrawn position, that the yarn Y is fed to the books of the needles N. Then as the hooks of the needles draw the yarn downwardly between the sinkers a greater than normal amount or length of yarn is drawn through the yarn feeding finger 32 to thus provide longer than normal stitches. It will be noted in FIGURE 6 that the buttsof the sinkers engage the end cam 65 and are moved inwardly radially while the inner ends of the sinkers are in raised position and are held inwardly, as shown in FIGURE 8, while the inner ends move downwardly again to level position. The sinkers are also held in their innermost position while the needles are raised up by the inclined surface 34 of the needle cam 25 (FIGURE 10) to shed the stitch previously held by the needle.

Of course, the height or thickness of the cams 121 and I22 may be varied and the length of time that the control lever 115 remains on or raised by these cams may be varied so that any desired length of loose stitch fabric may be knit. In some instances, it is desirable to have a single course of loose stitches, particularly in the formation of a loopers line and with the present fabric control device, it is merely necessary to raise the inner tube or sleeve so that it will cause the sinker raising cam to engage and raise the sinkers during one revolution of the needle cylinder.

If it is desired to incorporate an elastic yarn, indicated at E in FIGURE 10, in the loose stitch fabric to produce a highly stretchable mock-rib fabric the elastic yarn feeding finger dtl is lowered to operative position and in the present instance, alternate needles are raised by jacks J in a well known manner, not shown, so that alternate needles only pick up the elastic yarn E in their hooks. As the alternate needles N are lowered by the needle lowering cam 36, the elastic yarn is laid over the throats of the sinkers S which at this time are raised to substantially the position shown in FIGURE 7. These sinkers are then moved inwardly as the inner ends of the sinkers move ofi of the cam and are lowered to level position. The needles thus draw an unusually long length of elastic yarn E through the yarn feeding finger 40. Since an abnormally long length of elastic yarn is incorporated in each course, the fabric will stretch to a greater extent than a loose stitch fabric in which the elastic yarn has been incorporated by feeding the elastic yarn over the nibs of alternate sinkers.

The sinker withdrawing cam 72- rnust be cut away on its lower surface to permit the inner ends of the sinkers S to be raised by the sinker raising cam 95. The cut away portion of the cam 72 is not shown but it would be very similar to the cut away portion of the cam 66 (FIGURE 16).

To raise the inner ends of the sinkers S, it is necessary to cut away a portion of the lower surface of the sinker withdrawing cam 66 so that the inner portion of the shank 12.7 of the sinker S may be raised above the upper surface of the sinker bed 5t In order to avoid cutting away a portion of the lower surface of the cam 66 at the point the sinkers S are initially raised, the sinker bed 50 and the sinkers S may be modified in the manner illustrated in FIGURES 4, ll, 12 and 13. In this modified form, many of the parts are identical to the parts described in the preferred form and therefore will bear like reference characters with the prime notation added.

It will be noted, by referring to FIGURE 4, that the sinker S includes the usual throat 125", nib 126,operat ing b-utt es and shank 127. In this instance, the innermost portion of the shank 127 has been cut away at an angle as indicated at 14d and the outer portions of the sinker grooves in the sinker bed 59 have been cut at a corresponding angle as indicated at 14-1. Thus, when the sinkers S are in withdrawn position and the inner ends thereof are raised by the cam 9d, the angularly cut inner portion 1 .40 of the sinker S and the angularly cut outer portion 141 of the sinker grooves in the sinker bed 50 allow the sinkers S to be rocked or raised without the necessity of cutting away any of the lower portion of the withdrawing cam 66 at this point. FIGURE 11 shows the sinker S being raised by the cam 9i) and the lower surface of the sinker rocked back into the cut away portion 141 of the sinker bed 5t). Further upward movement of the inner end of the sinker S is prevented by the lower surface of the sinker withdrawing cam 66' engaging the angularly cut inner portion of the sinker S. However, when the sinker S starts to move inwardly before it is again lowered, the lower surface of the cam 66' will have to be cut away to allow for the slight raising of the sinker S as shown in FIGURE 12.

In the event it is desired to raise some of the sinkers higher than other sinkers or if it is desired to raise the sinkers higher than they may be raised in the preferred form of invention, all of the sinkers or only selected sinkers may be provided with downwardly depending butts or extensions 150 (FIGURES 14 and 15). The sinkers provided with the downwardly extending portions 156 are indicated at S in FIGURES 14 and 15 and the other parts of the sinkers S are identical to corresponding parts of the sinkers S and S" and therefore will bear like reference characters with the double prime notation added.

If alternate pairs of adjacent sinkers are provided with the downwardly extending butts 15%, the stitches drawn by alternate corresponding pairs of adjacent needles N will be even longer than the abnormally long or loose stitches drawn by the needles corresponding to the sinkers without the downwardly extending butts. The sinkers S" having the butts 150 on their inner ends will be controlled in the same manner as described for the sinkers without the butts 159, the butts 150 merely acting to raise the inner end of the sinker higher when it engages and rides up the cam 90", as shown in FIGURE 15.

Although the fabric control device of the present invention has been described in connection with a single feed knitting machine, it is to be understood that the sleeve 85 could support any number of sinker raising earns 90 to successively raise sinkers adjacent each knitting station in a machine having a plurality of knitting stations. Also, if a plurality of sinker raising cams were employed, they could be mounted so that the vertical position of each cam would be independently controlled and the amount the cams raise the sinkers at one knitting station could be varied independently of the amount they are raised at other knitting stations. This could be accomplished by mounting each sinker raising cam 90 on a vertically movable slide positioned inside of the needle cylinder and having separate control means for each vertically movable slide.

While the present invention is disclosed in its simplest form, it is contemplated that the device may be modified in order to apply the principles to various other applications. For instance, this invention is not intended to be limited to drawing of stitches of great variations, since the control cams 121 and 122 may be modified so that the length of stitch drawn, resulting from the raising of the inner ends of the sinkers, could be gradually increased or decreased. Thus, the fabric control device herein disclosed could be easily applied to a fine gauge ladies machine for knitting hosiery where it is desired to gradually increase and decrease the length of stitches drawn to thereby shape or fashion the leg of the hosiery.

In order to form a single course of loose stitches, for use as a looper line, on present circular knitting machines, it is necessary to either lower the stitch cams or raise the needle cylinder and in either case the movement must be gradual or the butts of the needles passing through the stitch cams at the time the movement takes place will be broken by engagement with the ends of the stitch cams. In a looper line it is desirable to have loose stitches which are uniform in size and which extend throughout exactly a single course. In other words, it is desirable to form a looper line in which the first and last loose stitches are formed on the same cylinder needle and all of the stitches are the same size. A perfect looper line can be formed by using the sinker raising cam of the present invention without any danger of needle breakage by operating the cam raising sleeve to raise the sinkers an equal amount for one course.

The fabric control device of this invention thus comprises a cam means movable into and out of operable position for selectively engaging and successively raising the inner ends of sinkers adjacent the yarn feeding point so that an abnormal length of yarn is fed to the needles and longer or loose stitches are drawn by the needles. By raising the inner ends of the sinkers to cause longer stitches to be drawn while continuing to feed the yarn to the usual throat of the sinkers and in front of the nibs, the sinkers continue to perform their conventional function of holding down the fabric and shedding the previously formed stitch loops off of the needles when they are drawn to stitch shedding level by the stitch cam.

In the drawings and specification there have been set forth preferred embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. In a circular knitting machine having a needle cylinder, independently movable latch needles carried by the needle cylinder, independently radially movable sinkers cooperating with the needles for the formation of stitches, a sinker bed supporting the sinkers for movement in radial grooves, each of said sinkers comprising a throat, a nib, an operating butt, and a shank positioned between the nib and butt, 2. downwardly depending sinker raising butt positioned on the inner end of selected sinkers and extending downwardly inside of the needle cylinder, and cam means positioned inside of the needle cylinder and movable into the path of travel of said sinker raising butts to successively raise corresponding sinkers thereby increasing the length of stitches drawn by corresponding needles.

2. In a circular knitting machine having a needle cylinder, independently movable latch needles carried by the needle cylinder, a knitting station, yarn feeding means for feeding body yarn to all of the needles at said knitting station, independently radially movable sinkers cooperating with the needles to form stitches of predetermined length, an elastic yarn feeding station, and elastic yarn feeding means for feeding elastic yarn to selected needles; the combination therewith of fabric control means comprising first cam means movable into the path of travel of the inner ends of all of the sinkers to raise the inner ends thereof at said knitting station, second cam means movable into the path of travel of the inner ends of the sinkers to raise the inner ends thereof at said elastic yarn feeding station, and pattern control means operative to control the movement of said first and second cam means.

3. In a circular knitting machine having a rotatable needle cylinder, needles mounted for vertical movement in the needle cylinder, sinkers disposed between the cylinder needles and mounted to rotate with the needle cylinder, a knitting station, yarn feeding fingers directing body yarn to all of the needles at said knitting station, an elastic yarn feeding station, and an elastic feeding finger directing elastic yarn to selected needles; the combination therewith of fabric control means comprising a vertically movable sleeve disposed in non-rotating position Within the needle cylinder, first sinker raising means positioned on the upper end of said sleeve to at times successively engage and raise the inner ends of all of the sinkers as they pass thereby at said knitting station, second sinker raising means positioned on the upper end of said sleeve and adapted to engage and raise the inner ends of the sinkers as they pass thereby at the elastic yarn feeding station, and pattern control means operatively connected to said sleeve to control vertical movement of the sleeve and said first and second sinker raising means thereby controlling the amount the inner ends of the sinkers are raised.

4. In a circular knitting machine having a rotatable needle cylinder, needles mounted for vertical movement in the needle cylinder, sinkers disposed between the cylinder needles and mounted to rotate with the needle cylinder, a knitting station, yarn feeding fingers directing body yarn to all of the needles at said knitting station,

an elastic yarn feeding station, and an elastic feeding finger directing elastic yarn to selected needles; the combination therewith of fabric control means comprising a fixed sleeve disposed in non-rotating position within the needle cylinder, a moveable sleeve mounted for vertical sliding movement in said fixed sleeve, a first sinker raising cam positioned on the upper end of said moveable sleeve to at times successively engage and raise the inner end of all of the sinkers as they pass thereby at said knitting station, a second sinker raising cam positioned on the upper end of said moveable sleeve and adapted to engage and raise the inner ends of the sinkers as they pass thereby at said elastic yarn feeding station, and pattern control means operatively connected to said moveable sleeve to control vertical movement of the sleeve and sinker raising cams thereby controlling the amount the inner ends of the sinkers are raised.

5. A method of knitting a tubular loose stitch fabric on a circular knitting machine wherein the fabric has abnormally long stitches formed of body yarn and an elastic strand incorporated therein, the knitting machine having a rotatable cylinder, means for imparting rotation to the cylinder, circularly arranged needles mounted for vertical independent movement in the cylinder and sinkers cooperating with the needles and over which sinkers body yarn is drawn by the needles to form stitches, said method comprising imparting rotary motion to the cylinder and performing the following steps during a single rotation thereof; feeding a body yarn to all of the needles, lowering all of the needles following the feeding of the body yarn thereto while maintaining the cooperating sinkers at a higher than normal level to draw abnormally long stitches thereover, while successively feeding the elastic strand to certain selected needles positioned throughout the cylinder, and while lowering the needles with the elastic strand thereon while maintaining cooperating sinkers at a higher than normal level to engage the elastic strand being lowered by the needles to cause a greater than normal length of elastic strand to be laid in the fabric.

6. A method of knitting a seamless sock on a circular knitting machine, the sock having a end portion and plain knit portions, the cuff including abnormally long stitches formed of body yarns and an elastic strand incorporated therein, the plain knit portions consisting of normal length stitches only, the knitting machine having a rotatable cylinder, means for imparting rotation to the cylinder, circularly arranged needles mounted for vertical independent movement in the cylinder, and sinkers cooperating with the needles and over which body yarn,

is drawn by the needles to form stitches, said method comprising imparting rotary motion to the cylinder and performing the following steps during rotation thereof; knitting the cufi? portion by feeding a body yarn to all of the needles, lowering the needles following the feeding of the body yarn thereto While raising all of the sinkers during each revolution to engage the body yarn and draw abnormally long stitches on all the needles in the cylinder as they are lowered, while successively feeding the elastic strand to certain selected needles positioned throughout the cylinder, and while lowering the needles with the elastic strand thereon while raising all of the sinkers during each revolution to engage the elastic strand being lowered by the needles to cause a greater than normal length of elastic strand to be laid in the fabric, knitting the plain portions of the sock by feeding a body yarn to all of the needles, and lowering the needles following the feeding of the body yarn thereto while maintaining the 'Sinkers at their normal level to draw normal length stitches on all of the needles in the cylinder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,121,681 Smith Dec. 22, 1914 1,862,021 Lawson et al. June 7, 1932 2,073,595 Lawson et al. Mar. 9, 1937 2,083,394 Page et al. June 8, 1937 2,101,005 Lawson Nov. 30, 1937 2,142,693 Lawson et al Jan. 3, 1939 2,716,876 Surratt Sept. 6, 1955 2,731,819 Crawford Jan. 24, 1956 2,913,886 Kale et al. Nov. 24, 1959 

